Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-10-02
THAT CIPHER.
REASONS FOR REJECTING TIE THEORY
That BACON WROTE SHAKESPEARE.
Contemporaries Of the Greatest Drama
tist Who Accused Him Of
Stealing Their Plots.
rDvlsh, Baldwin. in Globe. DomocrstI

mand as an authority, both pyo and
con-, in the discussion OF the contro.
versy, recently revived by Mr.. Don.
nelly and his cryptogram, as 10 whether
William Shakespeare was great poet,
entitled 10 a niche in tie "temple OF
fame" somewhat higher than those
adorned by Dante. Ccrvantes. Rabe-
lais, Moliere, Goethe, CHANGER, Mil
ton, and a half.score others of the
worlds great originators, or to be
classed with ale-drinkers aud deer
stalkers, with no claim 10 distinction
other than such as comes from having
served as the puiative father of the
offsprings Of the brain of he who wrote
the "Novum 0rganon and gave form
10 TIE inductiye method-he who. "in
one rich soul, Plato. the Stagirite, and
Tully joined Francis Bacon.
That the ox-bricklayer aud great dra
matist and actor knew much OF
Shakespeare and his works does not add
NIT of doubt, and his opinions, where
they have come down TO us, are justly
entitled to great weight. 1t should be
remembered, however, that Shakespeare
left the green banks of his own Avon,
repaired to the great metropolis, and
threw himself into that floOd-tide OF life
destined later 10 lead on TO fortune -
while JOnson was but a child that
the former had won a long-vacant seat
high up the rugged side of Mount Par
nassus, from which not even the cipher
is likely to dislodge him, before the
first drama of the latter was enacted.
in 1898.
Shakspeare's acquaintance with jon
son began, upon the authority of Rowe,
upon an occasion when the latter, then
altogetherunknown to the world, offered
one of bis dramas TO the players. The
persons having it in charge were about
to return II TO the young author with an
i'll natured answer when Shakespeare
CHANGED to cast his eye upon it, found
something to engage his attention, read
il to the end, recommended OnsOn and
his writings to the public, and little
later, when Every Man in His HUI
NOR was produced at the Globe Thea
tire, appeared as one OF the principal
actors.
"Iall oaks from little acorns grow
and great men from children. TassO
and Chattcrton were infant prodigies,
whose performances but serve 10 prove
the general rule.
Your Ben AMI Fletcher in their first young
Eight
Did no "VolpCnc." nor no Arboces write,
But hoped aoour, aud short excursions made
From tough 10 bough a. if they We're afraid,
And each was guilty ~ some q" Slighied Maid"
E.ra "a 10 Htar. HH-H
lore;
The prince Of Tyre" was elder tnan the
Moor
Acting upon this point of Dryden, is
II not the part OF wisdom III the candid
seeker after the truth TO look TO the be
ginning of Shakspeares literary life
and make inquiries among the men
who were the playwriters Of his gene
ration
The exact date of the great poets
arrival III London is unknown, but 1t
must have been as early as 1856, for he
began, according TO al accounts, in
every mean rank, some making him
a seryitor in the theatre. others holder
OF horses at the playhouse door, and
in 1859 had become - sharer in the
JldfhAlluln AuNhtlts dA4NA a lAANAuDSl VI
its company of actors.
Three hundred years ago the present
great metropolis Of the world was
small city, with but two regular
theatres and less than n dozen dra-
matte authors. most OF whom were also
actors upon the stage.
One OF the brightest, most prolific,
and dissOlute of all the dramatic and
prose writers of the latter part of the
sixteenth century was Robert Greene.
AS a student of medicine, a graduate OF
Cambridge, a court chaplain to the
Queen, a traveller in foreign lands, and
q general man of letters, he acquired a
liberal but rather desultory education.
He was the author of many plays,
none Of which We're printed in his life
time, and only five of which have come
down to our day He was an hdGitUc
of the theatre, and appeared occasion
ally upon the stage.
Greene was member of a Bohemian
circle, Of which the brilliant Christie
pher Marlowe, the author Of "Faus-
tus" and Hummelshine, the Great
which revived blank verse i'll England
and made ready the field for Shaks-
peare's mighty muse, was the head
centre. Thomas Nash, George Peele,
and Thomas Lodge were the other
leading members. Aarlowe. Nash, and
Greene had all been educated at Cam
bridge, and the entire quintette were, for
the most part. fast and devoted friends.
None of the old dramatists were
overscrupulous to show how or where
they secured their plots and incidents,
and to this rule Shakespeare was no eX-
ception. All Of his earlier plays were
undoubtedly rctacimcH0 of the pro-
auctions of older English authors, and
the circle Of worthless above mentioned
was quite heavily drawn upon 10y that
"mighty reflector OF things as they
were, but no anticipatOr," as Leigh
Hunt has termed him.
Robert Greene died in 1892. in great
distress and poverty. Shortly before
his death he wrote his Groatsworth of
Wit, Bought with Million of Repent
ance," which after his decease was
given to the world 10y his fellow-poet,
Henry Cettle. This Henry Cettle was
The same Henry Cettle who ten years
later published England's Mourning
Garment" from which Mr.. Donnelly
according to Professor Davidson, quotes
10 show that Shakespeare composed no
ode in memory OF the dead queen.
In this remarkable production he re-
counts his own wickedncss, together
with the particulars of his conversion,
and urges his friends Marlowe, Peele,
and Lodge-to follow his example and
seek salvation. He reminds them that
in his dire extremity he has been aban-
doned by those writers who have stolen
and rewritten his works, and predicts
for them a like fate.
"Yes, trust them not, wrote he, "for
there is an upstart crow, beautified with
our feathers, that, with his tigers
heart wrapped ia a piayer'S hide, sup
poses he is az well able 10 bombast out
a blank verse as the best of you and
being an absolute Johannes factotum,
is, in his own conceit, the only shake
scene in country. Oh that l might
entreat your rare wits to be employed
in more profitable courses, and let
these apes initiate your past excellence,
and never more acquaint them with
your admired inventions"
BY the words Tigers heart wrapped
in players hide" Greene refers TO
and parodies line from an old play
"1he True Tragedy Of Richard, Duke
Offork, "etc. -" Otiger's heart wrapped |